Let Me Hear Your Balalaikas Ringing Out (Miko Kusanagi, Radek Zelenka | G | 1,440 words): Miko has a temper. This is a great little look at two minor characters and who they are beyond their work.

Excerpt:Miko was barefoot, in a pair of soft leggings and a dark red tunic. It looked Athosian-made, and he wondered who she had traded for it. But what really caught his attention was her hair, which streamed over her shoulders like a dark wave. He had never seen her with her hair loose before. Always, in the labs, it was pulled back from her face; tightly contained, just like her temper.